Covid-19 discussion thread

[Fishmanpa]

The wife and I are 'boosted'!

FMP

[pulisa]

No definitive answers yet from the experts. They just don't know at the moment.

[fishman65]

We can only speculate as to where 'Omicron' will or will not take us. Though I think we should as a nation pre-empt any new threat with a return to some restrictions, as negative as that may sound. Mandatory mask wearing in public would be a good place to start, its hardly an inconvenience.

[Pamplemousse]

Called into M&S on my way home from work: probably about 10 or 15% were wearing masks, staff and customers alike.

As I left, the strong, cold wind and the sleety rain felt like they were telling me something.

[Lencoboy]

We can only speculate as to where 'Omicron' will or will not take us. Though I think we should as a nation pre-empt any new threat with a return to some restrictions, as negative as that may sound. Mandatory mask wearing in public would be a good place to start, its hardly an inconvenience.

That's exactly what we should be doing. We were the first country in the world to impose restrictions on flights to and from SA, remarkably at such short notice, followed my most of mainland Europe and other places, plus the USA will also be following suit.

All of this action should have been taken during the original onset of the pandemic back in January 2020, but alas, most govts the world over and the WHO were caught napping at the time (as we all know). The first known case of Omicron was on 9th November in Botswana (I think) which was over a fortnight ago, but it seemed to be only yesterday the news media first started reporting on it.

They also announced that it's possible for vaccines to be tweaked in a matter of weeks in an attempt to fight this variant if necessary.

Just a shame there also wasn't the same proactivity back in the spring and early summer when Delta first started spreading en masse.

[Catkins]

To be honest it really won't bother me if they make mask wearing mandatory again. I have to wear one all day at work unless I'm in the room on my own and I am still wearing it in shops. There have only been a few occasions when I haven't had a mask on in public indoors - meals out and when I went to see Dirty Dancing when the performance was on and we were all sat facing forward, in my head I convinced myself that there was a very low likelihood of someone breathing in my face. Oh, and we were the only 2 wearing masks (if I remember correctly) at a Kate Bush tribute concert the other week, unless you count the man in the wheelchair who was on oxygen.

[Lencoboy]

Despite the headline on the front page of today's Daily Mirror, there's still no officially confirmed cases of Omicron in the UK so far. Said headline is purely speculative at this stage as it supposedly refers to those who have returned to the UK from SA or other currently affected places over the past fortnight that may unwittingly be carrying the variant but not yet officially confirmed as such, and currently being investigated and monitored.

Chris Whitty is also urging us not to panic as he believes Delta still remains a more immediate concern in this country right now, but still believes the authorities are wise to take such actions at this stage, and that we should all still remain vigilant in the meantime.

One of the experts from Oxford Uni said yesterday that while this is bad news, it's not 'doomsday'.

My advice is to take today's newspaper headlines concerning the Omicron variant with a pinch of salt, though most ironically (and for once) the Daily Fail's take on it seems to be one of the least pessimistic of all. The Daily Express (Depress) however, be warned!

[Carys]

2 cases are now confirmed in the UK. It was a matter of time only.

[pulisa]

2 cases are now confirmed in the UK. It was a matter of time only.

Sadly inevitable. Let's hope the vaccines are still effective.

[Pamplemousse]

The Ham Scarecrow - sorry, Johnson - to give a press conference later today.